the city sleeps
by acronymed
Summary: COMPLETE. A war wages on a broken planet, and Kairi is sent to pick up the pieces. — Zuko/Kairi.
1. the city sleeps

**The City Sleeps****  
**[Part I; The City Sleeps]

_"__give me a moment please -  
____to tame your wild, wild heart."_

__

_

* * *

_

They've just set up camp when Toph says she can feel someone coming their way. Katara touches the water skin at her hip and he feels the heat crawl up his arms agonizingly slow. A minute passes, and she bursts through the trees, a long piece of metal with dull edges and a charm hanging from the handle in her hand. A sabre-toothed moose rumbles after her, swinging its head wildly. He reacts instinctively, pulling her behind him as Katara's water whips freeze around the animal's legs.

"You okay?" he says, not looking at her. He feels rather than sees her nod.

"Yeah," she goes, fingers gripping the back of his shirt, near his tailbone. "I'm Kairi."

"Zuko," he says. Toph's rock barrier goes up and Aang sends the beast skidding back into a cliff-face. Her fingers stay pressed against his spine, even as Fire Nation soldiers come running at the sound of the commotion and the real fight begins.

—

Zuko knows better than to underestimate girls, having grown up with Mai, Ty Lee and Azula, but he can't help but be a bit surprised when he turns to take out a wave of soldiers and sees her pulling her weapon out of a man's stomach, all pink and lithe and so very frail looking. A wave of fire catches him from his right and brushes his shoulder.

In his defence, at least he didn't pull a Sokka and drop his swords.

—

"I'm Kairi," she says, wiping flecks of blood off her metal arm guards. Aang is eyeing her almost disapprovingly, and Toph is trying to guess what she looks like, Sokka shooting her down every so often.

Katara smiles at her and finishes healing his burn. "I'm Katara," she says, holding out her hand. "It's nice to meet you."

Aang is still biting his lip and frowning when Katara introduces her to him. Toph laughs when Sokka finally tells her that the person who eliminated Fire Nation soldiers without bending and barely breaking a sweat is a slip of a girl wearing a bubblegum pink dress under her steel shoulder pads who throws a piece of decorated metal around like it's nothing, and Zuko snorts quietly as well.

When she turns to talk to Sokka, he looks at the Avatar.

"Aang."

Aang blinks, relaxing almost immediately. "Yeah, Zuko?"

Zuko is staring at the blood under her fingernails when he says, "Pacifism doesn't win wars."

They both know Aang is lying through his teeth when he says, "I know."

—

Kairi got used to blood a week after the King sent her to a world out on the outskirts of the Universe. Sora had thrown a fit at the idea of her going anywhere alone, and Riku spent the better part of a month teaching her everything he could about fighting and defending and not dying on the battlefield. She set off in a Gummi Ship on the first morning of spring, and came back seventeen days later a less innocent and a little more hardened.

"I want to go back," had been the first thing she'd said when she'd entered the Throne Room. "Give me a week, and then I want to go back."

No one had asked why, but the blood on her Keyblade and the burn on her thigh had said wonders. When Sora wrapped a bandage around her leg and pushed a potion to her lips while Riku meticulously cleaned Heartschain, she leaned over and cried into his shoulder.

She finally understood what they were fighting for.

She went back to Ba Sing Se the following Monday.

That was two months ago.

—

"So, Kairi," Katara says over dinner, "what nation are you from?"

Kairi laughs. It's a nice sound, he thinks, better than Mai's harsh barks that were rarely heard. "Oh," she goes, smiling into her soup. "I'm actually not from around here."

Sokka raises his eyebrows. "Come again?"

She launches into a story of heart stealers and broken worlds and unlocking kingdoms. She talks about traveling and being kidnapped, and finally getting fed up with being the damsel in distress. She talks about two boys, her best friends, and an empty husk blonde who became someone a little bit more complete when she was fifteen. She tells them about the darkness and the core of their world, and how it's falling apart, and when she starts to talk about a man with fire in his blood just like him, her eyes get a little glassy and her fingers shake around her bowl.

"What happened" Toph asks, when Kairi stops and stares at the ground. "To your Sparky, I mean?"

Kairi's lip quirk at the nickname, but her eyes are tinged with sadness. "He… faded away."

"Well, that sucks."

"Yeah," she sighs, "it does."

—

None of them believe her, even after she becomes slightly withdrawn and barely touches her food, but when the creature with the yellow eyes and blackened bodies come crawling into their campsite, antennas twitching, Zuko begins to second guess his own beliefs and keeps Toph behind him because I can't feel anything you guys, what's going on, you're all crazy, I swear.

And when Katara screams as one of them sinks its claws into her back, searching, he knows it's real.

Kairi's weapon – a Keyblade, she'd called it – soars through the air and knocks the creature clean off of Katara. Both the creature and the Keyblade hit the ground and disappear in puffs of smoke, but only the Keyblade shows up in Kairi's hand.

"Are you okay?" she's yelling and running and fighting all at the same time, ponytail swinging behind her. Katara is on her hands and knees, clutching the dirt, and there's a steady stream of blood flowing from her back. Kairi fishes a vial of glowing green liquid out of the pocket of her dress and tips Katara's head up. "Here, drink this."

Zuko keeps a wall of fire going around them while Toph clutches at the hem of his shirt and Katara's skin stitches itself back together.

Then they search for Sokka and Aang.

(By the end of the night, they know she's telling the truth, and the gaping wound-turned-scar in Sokka's side never lets them doubt again.)

—

That morning is tense. Sokka is still recovering in the tent – Katara goes in to check on him ever half hour and refuses to move from the tent entrance for hours. Kairi ends up cleaning up the camp with him while Toph sits on a rock and stares at nothing.

Aang is the first to speak. "Did you bring them here?"

Kairi looks at him, empathetic. "No. I wish I had, though. Then I'd be able to lead them away."

Katara's voice is soft and quiet when she speaks. "What do they want?"

"Hearts." She pauses, refolds a blanket, and shoots Katara a pointed look. "Pure hearts."

Katara's shoulders slump a little. "Will he…?"

"He'll be fine," Kairi assures her with a smile, bangs falling into her eyes as she leans over and shoves Toph's blanket into a bag. "He just needs to rest."

They're silent again. Then, Toph finally moves, folding her arms over her chest and scowling in Kairi's general direction. "If you can't lead them away, why are you here?"

"I have to… lock this world, so to speak," Kairi says slowly, eyebrows furrowing. "Once I do that, this world will be safe… er."

Toph snorts. "I see you noticed there's a war going on."

"It's kind of hard not to," Kairi says, "when you're in the middle of it."

—

He walks next to her when they venture through the forest, Appa lumbering behind them with slow, heavy steps. "Hey."

Kairi glances at him from the corner of her eyes, Keyblade settled on one shoulder, and half-smiles. "Hi."

"Can I ask you something?"

She blinks at him, then shrugs. "Sure."

"How do you… lock a world?"

A flock of birds pass overhead as she stares off into the distance thoughtfully. "I have to find the heart of the world," she begins, almost hesitant. "To do that, I have to find a… key, of sorts. It's an object unique to that world that reacts with my Keyblade and allows me to access the heart of the world. Then I use my Keyblade and seal it up so the Darkness can't get in and spread." She grins. "It sounds way more complicated than it is."

Zuko frowns, confused. "How do you find this… key? Do you get clues, or something?"

"Not really," she admits, sheepish. "But, the King already knew where the key to this world was located – he just sent me to seal it up."

"And you've been here two months?"

"Yeah."

His eyes narrow and something in him tightens in almost-fear. "Where's the key located?"

She doesn't look at him when she says, "It's the Fire Lord's crown."

A nearby tree bursts into flame.

—

Zuko is quiet the rest of the hike. He moves up with the rest of the group after the tree stops burning and Toph stops eyeing their general direction while Kairi stays behind them and fiddles with her necklace, a gift from Sora and Riku on her sixteenth birthday. It's a small, heart shaped pendant made of silver; the ends of it curl into the middle and the chain in thick – less chance of it snapping off in battle, that way, Riku had told her. She hasn't taken it off once in the year she's had it.

Katara is hitting Sokka upside the head for something he's said, and Aang is at the front, leading. His staff is twice his height, and he barely reaches Kairi's shoulder when he stands next to her, but she thinks he might be a great hero. She would know – she's had a lot of experience with heroes.

It's Toph who lags behind as dusk breaks over the horizon. "Hey, Princess," she says, and Kairi has to stop herself from thinking of bright hair and slanted eyes and fires. "What did you say to Sparky to get him all worked up?"

"He asked me how I was going to lock this world," she replies honestly. "I told him I needed to find this world's key, which would give me access to the world's heart, and when I told him the key was the Fire Lord's crown he… got a little upset."

"Just a little?" Toph snorts, motioning behind them. Kairi can still see a bit of smoke in the air. She bites her lip. Toph grabs her wrist and frowns into the distance. "Hey, don't get upset," she says, shuffling her feet along the ground. "Sparky's just really sensitive about his Dad and anything to do with him, including the whole Fire Lord thing."

"… why?" Kairi asks. She thinks of the scar on Zuko's face and the scars on Riku's chest that keep him from talking about his time in the Organization. "Did his dad give him his scar?"

"You'll have to ask him that yourself, Princess." Toph is scowling now, her fingers tight and pressing hard into Kairi's veins. "Because up until now, I didn't even knowSparky had a scar."

They walk together until Aang tells them to stop and set up camp, and when Toph lets go of her wrist, there are purple bruises already forming. Kairi helps Katara unload their stuff and doesn't think twice about healing them.

—

There is a fight at dinner. It starts with Sokka saying something about an eclipse that failed, then Aang mentions something about struggling with training and the Avatar state, then Zuko is telling him he needs to let go of whatever's holding him back, and Aang shoots Katara the most pointed look when he says he can't. Sokka and Zuko catch it, and there is a lot of yelling after that.

Kairi stays out of it, leaning against Appa's side as Katara yells. "He's just a kid!" she snaps, standing in front of Aang like a protective mother. "You can't expect him to carry all this on his own!"

Aang looks defeated. Zuko makes an unintelligible noise and exhales steam, while Sokka continues raving and swinging his boomerang around wildly. Toph, who Kairi assumes was listening in her rock-tent, pokes her head out and goes, "Why didn't anyone tell me Sparky has a scar?"

Everyone freezes. Kairi fists her hands in Appa's fur and hopes she doesn't mention her name. Zuko frowns. "It's not important."

"It's a part of who you are, isn't it?" Toph rolls her eyes. "I'm not trying to make a big deal out of anything; I was just wondering why no one thought to tell me. I can't see everything with my feet, you know."

"We didn't tell you because we didn't think to," Katara says. "It's not something you just… tell someone."

"Way to be subtle, Sweetness." Toph scratches her ear and disappears back behind the rocks. "I'm going to bed now, so if you all could just shut the hell up, that'd be great. Night!"

"Toph?" Sokka calls, after a beat, "who told you about Zuko's scar?"

"The only person who seems to care enough to ask questions, of course," is the reply, and Kairi feels her face heat up as everyone turns to look at her.

"I... thought she knew?" she offers, wincing. Aang cocks his head at her curiously, while Katara and Sokka shake their heads.

Zuko scowls at her necklace for a long time, then turns on his heel and walks away.

—

She finds him later, with fire swirling around his hands. She refuses to think of chakrams as she approaches him tentatively and says, "I'm sorry I accidentally told Toph about your scar."

"It's okay," he grunts, and aims a kick at a nearby oak tree. "She would've found out eventually, anyways."

Kairi pushes the toe of her boot into the dirt. "Ah, uhm, okay then. I'll… see you in the morning."

She's walking away when he calls to her. "You're the only one who talks about it, you know."

She turns halfway and blinks. He's staring at her hard and touching the tips of his fingers to the glossy skin of his ear. She swallows. "Is… that a bad thing?"

"… no," he finally says, features softening just a little, and turns away.


	2. a peaceful slumber

**The City Sleeps  
**[Part II]

"_let me be the one you call –  
__if you jump, I'm ready to fall._

* * *

She's been with them for almost a month and a half, now. She's a good fighter, quick and nimble, just like Katara, and she knows how to heal without having to bend. It takes them all some time to get used to the soft green glow that surrounds her hands when she stitches cut skin back together, but Kairi is warm and gentle in the same way Katara is and it never hurts.

Zuko finds himself wanting to ask her if she's ever healed a scar before, but he thinks of Ba Sing Se and Katara's face when he turned on them, and thinks better of it. He doesn't really deserve that kind of salvation, anyways.

They're progressively getting closer and closer to the capitol. Sokka, during another one of his tirades, asks what the point is in having a flying bison if they don't even use it, and Kairi calmly tells him Appa is a _he _not an _it _and that, if he doesn't want to get shot out of the sky by balls of fire, he'll keep walking.

Toph mutters something along the lines of _shut the hell up and haul ass, Snoozles _which, in retrospect, is probably what Kairi was trying to say to begin with.

Aang has been disturbingly quiet ever since the fight. Zuko apologizes to him hours after it happens, but when that doesn't seem to have any effect, he starts keeping an eye on the airbender.

Kairi is the one who catches him watching Aang talk to Appa quietly up front. "Stop worrying," she tells him, pushing back her sweat dampened bangs. "He's not mad at you."

"Then what's wrong with him?" Zuko hisses, rubbing his nose. "He doesn't have any reason to –"

"What was it Katara said about him," Kairi interrupts, looking falsely thoughtful. "Oh, that's right. 'He's just a kid!'"

"Are you kidding me?" He looks at her in disbelief. "He can't actually be upset about that."

"He can when you consider the source," she replies blithely. He stares at her and she sighs. "Katara, Zuko. Katara's the one who said it, and, considering how Aang has spent most of the time I've been with you guys doing everything he can to prove himself to her, I can understand why he'd be crushed."

"So," Zuko watches Aang's hunched shoulders up ahead, "what happens now?"

She shrugs. "That's Aang and, eventually, Katara's decision to make."

He takes her word for it, and when Katara and Aang both slip away that night into the forest, he thinks maybe things will turn out alright.

—

The final battle is getting closer, and so is the comet. Zuko drills firebending into Aang from dawn until dusk, until neither one of them can so much as summon a puff of smoke. Katara berates the both of them for pushing themselves too hard, but only Aang lets her heal him. Zuko goes over battle plans with Sokka nearby, and ignores both her and Kairi's disapproving stares.

He'd decided a long time ago that if he ever wanted to beat his father, he had to rely on his own strength. And Katara couldn't be constantly healing them when they had Azula, as well as Ty Lee and Mai no doubt, to worry about. He let's Aang get away with it though. He owes him that much.

When everyone else goes to sleep and he's still awake by the fire, editing the blueprints Sokka had drawn up the day before, Kairi comes over to him with a vial full of green liquid. He remembers her giving one like that to Katara, that first night, when the black bugs had attacked. He remembers Katara's back being as smooth as it'd been before, and keeps his twitching hand from touching the pink skin near his eye.

"Drink this," she orders, and doesn't look like she's moving anytime soon. Zuko stares at her. She stares back, unwavering. "I'm serious. You can't keep pushing yourself like this, you know."

"The comet –"

"Is four months away," she says dryly. "I'm sure the world won't explode if the great Prince Zuko, Strategist in Training, gets a few hours of sleep every night."

Nearby, Zuko swears he hears Toph mutter something like, "You tell him, Princess." He looks back at her and the determined set of her shoulders, and sighs.

"Fine," he grumbles, taking the vial from her. She beams at him, and a blush creeps up his neck. "You don't have to stay and watch me."

"Yes I do." She takes a seat next to him on the log and stretches her bare legs out in front of her. Zuko will never get used to seeing that much exposed skin all the time. He purposely avoids glancing her way and watches the stars instead. "You probably won't drink it _or _go to bed if I don't."

"What are you, my mother?"

She snorts. "You sound like Riku."

He remembers him. He was one of her… friends from the island or wherever it was she was from. He eyes the necklace resting at the dip between her collarbones and frowns when something in him twinges, just a little. "I guess you nagged him to death, too?"

"I do it because I care," she intones, voice serious. Zuko's eyes widen. Then she's all smiles again. "So drink up and get some shut eye, or I'll beat your royal butt into next week!"

"I'd like to see you try, little girl," he says, smirking. Kairi punches him in the shoulder in retaliation and it actually hurts. He winces. "Okay, ow."

"There's more where that came from." She waves her fist threateningly and he's suddenly hit by the realization that she's ridiculously cute. "Better watch your back, Sparky."

"Whatever you say, _Princess,_" he retorts, and for once, he notes, her eyes don't turn sad at the nickname.

They're silent, and then, "For the love of crap, either make out quietly, or stop flirting and go to bed!"

Kairi flushes. "Sorry, Toph."

"Liar."

She throws a glare in the direction of Toph's rock tent. Zuko bites the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing. "Fine, then. No paopu fruit for you!"

"… I hate you."

"Liar," Kairi throws back, and then softly tells him goodnight before walking back over to Appa. Zuko cocks his head at her retreating form, and narrowly avoids the rock that comes flying towards his head.

"Stop leering at her, Sparky," Toph grumbles, just loud enough for him to hear. "Pining isn't going to get you anywhere."

"… Shut up, midget."

"Do you want another rock to the face? Seriously?"

"That'd be threatening if it weren't for the fact that your aim _sucks."_

"Oh, that's _it."_

"Children!" Sokka yells, poking his head out of his sleeping bag. "I know Zuko has some sort of little sister complex because his is batshit crazy, but if you guys can't play nice, then _shut up. _The genius needs his beauty sleep."

Zuko barely suppresses a snicker. Toph's voice is dry when she says, "You must not be getting much rest then, huh, Snoozles?"

"WHY YOU-"

Zuko somehow manages to shut them out and falls asleep to the sound of Kairi's light giggling.

—

The following morning, Heartless attack while they're in the middle of packing up. Toph still can't feel them, so Zuko keeps her behind him, this time with Kairi at her other side. Katara keeps the ground covered in ice – the creatures slide all over, their claws scrabbling to find purchase, while her water whips tear through them in rows. Sokka's boomerang does a good job of keeping the ones who slip past stunned long enough for Aang to destroy them.

At some point, Kairi and him get separated. Toph stays at his back, clinging to his shirt, and he remembers that she's only thirteen, not even a woman yet. He remembers a flash of pink and fingers curling against his spine weeks before. The Heartless keep pouring out from between the trees; Kairi, now ten feet away, frowns. He sees her lips move, and then she turns to the two of them. Across the clearing, Aang, Sokka and Katara fight off another wave.

"Zuko," she says, elbow deep in one's stomach. The tip of her Keyblade protrudes from its back. "There's too many of them – we need to get out of here."

Zuko hates the idea of running from a fight, but knows it's they only thing they can do. "Aang, Katara, Sokka! We have to go!"

Aang's staff comes down hard on several skulls. Zuko can hear the crunch of bone. "And lead them to a village? No way!"

"We don't have a choice!" Zuko yells back, a ring of fire surrounding them.

Aang jumps out of it and sends a surge of air towards the group of black, scuttling monsters. "You always have a choice!"

And then Kairi is jumping over it, too, and ripping through Heartless like they're nothing, making her way towards him. Zuko sees one of the huge Heartless lumbering towards her, and goes to shout. Behind him, Toph stiffens. The words never come out, though, because she leaps, Keyblade above her head, and lands behind it. It falls apart in two pieces before disappears into a puff of purple smoke.

Aang glares at her when she approaches. They aren't yelling, so Zuko can barely hear them, but he catches pieces of their conversation over the hiss of flames and twitch of antennae.

"Aang," Kairi goes, back to back with him. There's a line of blood running from her head, down her cheek. "I don't like… you do… need to stay alive… Ozai."

Aang whirls towards her. "So I should just… people die… own gain?"

Kairi seems upset, but continues to fight, plunging her Keyblade into a monster creeping up on Aang. "No," she says, "you should… people die… save a million…"

Zuko doesn't know what else they say, because the next thing he knows, Toph is being ripped away from him, screaming, and Katara's water whip is snapping against his back, and then there is a searing pain in his chest. Toph's voice is shrill behind him. "Sparky!"

The last thing he sees before it all goes black, water and maybe something else seeping through the back of his shirt, is Kairi sprinting towards him, eyes wide and horrified.

"Zuko!"

—

When he wakes up, Kairi is leaning over him, eyes wet and lips pink. Her arms are caked with blood – his, maybe? – and the hem of her skirt is ripped. He looks around groggily, sees the rest of the group at the edge of the clearing. Toph is sitting against a rock facing him, smiling.

"She knew you were waking up before I did," Kairi says, pupils glossy. "And I was with you the whole night. I think she was worried."

"Was not!" Toph yells, then blushes and turns away muttering. Kairi giggles, but it sounds forced.

His mouth feels dry, and his voice cracks when he asks, "What… happened?"

Kairi's almost-smile falls quickly. She fiddles with the ends of her gloves. "One of the Heartless snuck around behind us and jumped over Toph to get to you. I guess it identified you as the biggest threat, or something. You were bleeding pretty badly." She pauses, bites her lip. "You have a scar."

"I'm used to those," he goes, without thinking, and winces when she looks away. "It's not your fault, you know."

"… I should've been there," she mutters. "I'm a Keyblade Master. I'm _meant _to destroy Heartless. It's my _job, _and I couldn't even protect –"

"You were helping Aang," he interrupts. "I don't blame you, so stop blaming yourself."

She sighs. Her shoulders sag, and he realizes how tense she is. "Okay."

"Good." He nods, then flinches as the back of his neck starts to burn. Kairi's hands glow green and press against his jaw before he can even say anything.

"Better?" she mumbles, bangs falling in her eyes. He stares up at her and her perfect skin and grunts. She snorts. "I thought princes were supposed to be eloquent."

His lips quirk at the corners. "Exiled ones are the exception, I think."

Her eyebrows furrow. "Sorry."

He shrugs, and it doesn't hurt to move anymore. Her hands are still soft on his jaw. "Don't be. I rather enjoy being a pariah. And that wasn't even sarcasm."

"That's Sokka's forte, anyway, isn't it," Kairi quips, but her expression is flat, sad even. Zuko watches her lean back, fingers falling from his face. His skin is cold.

"I got this scar when I spoke out against a general's battle plan," he goes. Her lips part and she touches his hand, and this makes it easier for him to talk, somehow. "He was going to throw away hundreds of lives for the sake of a sneak attack. I didn't agree with it; my father did." Here, he laughs, maybe bitter, maybe not. "He challenged me to a battle, and I refused to fight him. So he burned me, and then sent me away on a boat. I wasn't allowed to return until I had the Avatar."

"That's horrible," she breathes, thumb ghosting over his palm. He can't breathe.

"I'm not as angry as I used to be," he stops staring at her blue-blue eyes and looks to the sky instead. It's an orange-pink and fading. He must've been unconscious for a while. "I've made a lot of mistakes, but I'm going to try and make everything right." His mouth kicks up here, and he glances at her again. "Besides, if I hadn't done what I did, I never would've met you."

"Not true," she says, and her cheeks might be flushed. "We would've met anyways. Maybe on opposite ends of the battlefield, but we would have met."

"Fate?" he asks. His fingers curve into the dirt to keep from curving around hers.

She smiles at him, brilliant and bright, with perfect, even white teeth. "Maybe."

—

Three days later, when all the girls finally decide he's allowed to move around, Sokka lays blueprints out in front of him and taps them with the end of his pencil. "I came up with this while you were off in La-La Land with The Hot One. What do you think?"

Zuko chokes on nothing. "_The Hot One?"_

Sokka raises his eyebrows at him. "Yeah – Kairi. Like I don't know about your love affair with her and her legs."

Zuko is pretty sure he must've died in his sleep and then gone to Hell. "My _what!"_

"I'm a guy, dude," Sokka replies, and Zuko wonders what he did to deserve this. "I know these things. Just remember: she's not from around here, and I don't think she plans on sticking around when all is said and done."

Zuko doesn't reply – instead, they sit and go over the palace layouts, pointing out little mistakes here and there, or suggesting additions. Finally, Sokka makes one last note in the bottom corner and begins to roll up the pages.

"We have a plan," he goes, grinning insanely. Zuko tries in vain not to mirror his look.

"We have a plan," he repeats, then glances over at the rest of the group. Toph and Kairi are leaning against Appa while Kairi flips through a book, lips moving perhaps not as silently as originally thought. Momo is perched on her shoulder. Aang and Katara sit nearby, prodding at dinner. Sokka chuckles beside him.

"You've got it bad, Sparky." He stands up, stretches, and brushes off his pants. "But do you really think it's a good —"

"I'll give her a reason to stay," Zuko mutters, and turns back to the campfire, away from Sokka's sympathetic gaze.

* * *

**NOTES. **.. Yeah, I effing love doing crossovers that make no sense.**  
DISCLAIMER. **I own nothing but the plot... thing.  
**PARTS.** 2/3.


	3. and awakens to chaos

**The City Sleeps.  
**[Part III; And Awakens To Chaos]

_If you need to crash and burn—  
__you're not alone._

* * *

The eve of the comet, Aang disappears. They split into teams to find him, and eventually reassemble at the White Lotus base camp. King Bumi smiles at them with all eight of his teeth and salutes.

"Hello, there!" he yells. Sokka twitches and rubs his neck. "Glad you all finally showed up!"

"My ears are bleeding," Sokka deadpans. The solemn atmosphere Aang's absence had caused disappears entirely. Kairi and Toph snicker.

"Wait!" Bumi screams. "Someone's missing…" He inspects each of them carefully. "Where's Momo?"

Zuko groans. Kairi is giggling into her hand, and he's staring at her from the corner of his eye as best he can. "We have a slightly bigger problem, actually."

As he explains the situation, he's watching Kairi watch the others reunite with their mentors. He can see the expression on her face flicker between delight and something softer, something almost nostalgic.

"Well, I wouldn't worry," Bumi says. "Avatars like to up and run about for a bit when they're nervous! Iroh's in the big white tent."

Zuko chokes. Kairi touches his wrist and leans into him. Her body is warm against his side. "Zuko?"

Her fingers are gentle, light. He swallows hard and flits between her mouth and her eyes. "I don't think I can face him."

"You're silly," she scolds, and tugs him forward. She walks him through the gate, between tables and sleeping warriors, towards the largest tent in the vicinity. "He's your uncle – he will love you no matter what. And you've changed since you last saw him, right?"

"Yeah, but—"

"No," she says, with her back straight and facing him. The White Lotus symbol is stitched into the tent's flap. "You've worked hard to make him proud. Now show him."

He squeezes her hand. His lunch is lodged somewhere in his throat. "Okay."

She smiles brilliantly at him, like the sun, and he wants to kiss her. "I'll be waiting out here for you."

His lips curve, even as the knot in his stomach twists hard. "Thanks."

Her nails grazed his palm. "Knock 'em dead."

Zuko smirks, and walks forward.

—

"So," Iroh goes, after they've both wiped their eyes and straightened their clothes, "when do I meet the girl?"

Zuko makes a noise that falls between a splutter and a hiccup. "Who?"

"You think I haven't been keeping an eye on you?" Iroh grins. "Oh, nephew, you have much to learn. Is she pretty?"

"Uncle!"

A smile, and that familiar eye flash that means nothing short of bad. "That's a yes, then?"

Zuko splutters his way outside. Kairi is kneeling on the ground, petting Appa. He clears his throat; she turns and beams at him in a way that makes every nerve in his body pulse. "How was it?"

"It was…" He blushes, glances away. "It was okay."

She laughs. "Good. Sokka wants us to meet him by Bumi's tent. They think they've got a way to find Aang."

She stands and brushes off her skirt. Zuko's eyes linger on the smooth expanse of her legs. She grabs his wrist. "Let's go."

He inhales to steady his heartbeat; it doesn't work. "Okay."

The camp is bigger than he thought it'd be. Kairi leads him between the tents without pausing, and he wonders how she could've possibly learned the layout of the area so quickly. She smells like smoke and springtime and maybe a little like the palace garden.

Sokka and Hakoda are huddled around a sketch Sokka seemed to have drawn in the dirt with a stick. Katara and Toph are missing.

"Zuko!" Sokka grins at him, all teeth. "We're just going through the battle plan."

"Where is everyone?" Kairi asks. Sokka sees their linked hands and smirks.

"They went to find the bounty hunter," he says. "That freak show she calls a pet should be able to sniff Aang out for us."

Kairi cocks her head. Zuko sighs. "Don't worry about it. When are we attacking?"

"Tomorrow," Hakoda says, pointing at a spot on the map. "We'll strike here and here. Teo's been working on some new machines that should help."

"I'll take Azula," Zuko mutters, staring at the horizon. Kairi's fingers slide up his arm, curl around his bicep. He turns to her. "I need you to come with me."

She nods, and he knows he won't have to explain why. "Of course."

Sokka shoots him The Look. Zuko glares. "We'll need a healer, Zuko."

"Katara is better than I ever will be," Kairi supplies, fiddling with her necklace. It hurts a bit to see her doing that and Zuko doesn't know why. "I don't have what it takes to save lives; I can only fix flesh wounds."

"You saved mine," Sokka says. They pause, think of slippery black bodies and twitchy antennae, of the gaping hole turned pinkish scar across Sokka's ribcage and all the blood that had pooled where he'd fallen. She smiles sadly.

"You're one person." Her fingers lace together, twist, fall apart. "I couldn't save three of you."

Sokka looks resigned – Zuko knows it had never been about healing. It had been about distance he wouldn't give her, about the attachment he'd been forming too soon. He doesn't think he needs to let go, though; he just needs to hold on a bit longer.

"Fine." Sokka shrugs and eyes them both. "Have it your way."

Zuko's shoulders relax. Kairi rolls her eyes. "Thanks, _Dad_."

Sokka grins and wags his finger at them. "You crazy kids don't go getting into any trouble, you hear?"

Kairi sniggers. Zuko sighs. "Idiot."

"Respect your elders, sonny! And just what exactly are your intentions with my daughter?"

Hakoda seems both amused and pained. Zuko is flushing when he turns to him and says, "Where did I go wrong?"

"Did you ever drop him as a child?" Kairi snarks. Hakoda looks thoughtful.

"Nope, not that I can remember."

She grins, mischievous. Zuko bites the inside of his lip. "Well there's your problem, then."

Sokka pouts. "My genius is so underappreciated."

"Or imagine," Zuko says flatly. Kairi and Hakoda laugh while Sokka tries to put him in a headlock and everything is alright, for just a little while.

—

When he climbs onto Appa's back the next day, he says, "Are you ready to meet my sister?"

"I'm sure she's wonderful," Kairi goes, "homicidal tendencies and all." Her fingernails graze his palm when she takes the hand he offers. He shivers. "Cold?"

"… Maybe I shouldn't bring you," he mutters, for more than one reason. Her skirt slides dangerously high up her thighs. He tells her a partial-truth. "Azula will go after you just to hurt me."

"I'm a big girl," she teases, and squeezes his side. He bites back a groan. "Worry about yourself, alright? I'll be fine."

"You don't know what Azula is capable of."

"And you don't know what I'm capable of, either," she says, soft. He thinks of the blood that was caked and dried under her fingernails that first night and how she never hesitated when she struck. "Zuko?"

"You're going to be the death of me," he says honestly and touches her knee. "Alright."

Appa roars and takes off into the sky – Zuko watches the camp fade into a speck below them and breathes. Kairi's fingers tangle in his shirt. "What was Azula like… before all this happened?"

"Arrogant," he replies. "Spoiled. Selfish. Manipulative."

"And you weren't?"

"I was… weak." She stiffens. "In some ways, at least. In others, I had the strength I wish I had now."

"I bet," she says, voice airy, "you were a total momma's boy."

He snorts. "And if I was?"

He feels her cheek curve against his back. "Then I'd say you're a very sensitive boy and I hope you don't cry when I kill your sister."

Zuko leans back into her. She doesn't say 'beat' or 'defeat' or even 'win'. She says kill, and means it, because she gets what this war is about. Because she understands what kinds of sacrifices have to be made to smile and mean it. She squeals. "What was that? I couldn't hear you over the sound of me throwing you off Appa."

"Hate you," she grumbles. He chuckles. "And you smell like sweat."

"Forgive me," he deadpans. "Next time, I'll be sure to bathe before going off to kill my psychopathic sister."

"You have _another _one?" Kairi head buts his neck lightly. "What is _wrong_ with your family?"

"You're a complete moron."

"You love me."

He pauses. "Unfortunately."

"Jerk!" she laughs, and pinches him, and he wishes she understood just how much he'd meant it.

—

Azula is gone. Her eyes are wild and her bangs are crooked, and she is no longer four and asking him to help her steal cookies. She is his baby sister and he will have to kill her. He will have to kill this girl with the broken, painted face and quivering laugh, this girl he'd held as a baby and sworn to always protect, to always be a big brother to. His hands are shaking as they fight, and hers are too, but they don't say a word. His bending is better. He is better.

Blue fire rises up to meet his in a giant wall. Kairi is behind him, key drawn, ready to jump in at any moment. She knows this is more than a battle to them both of them, and he loves her for it.

"Such a pretty little thing you've brought home, Zuzu," Azula purrs. Suddenly, he is very glad Kairi hadn't come earlier, that she hadn't met him when they were on opposite sides. Azula licks her lips. "Is she Mai's replacement?"

"No," Zuko says, and the word echoes hard in his head. A line of fire twists across the ground, from his wrist. Azula flips back to avoid it, flames dancing across the tips of her fingers. "She's better."

"Oh, Zuzu," Azula smirks her evilest smirk and he is already moving, even as the flames begin to crackle and snap. "You should know better by now than to tell me things like that."

The lightning that shoots out of her arm was never aimed for him, but he rolls into it like he needs to. His heart stops; he can feel that much. The stones of the Agni Kai ring are cold under him. Kairi doesn't scream, and her footsteps are quiet and graceful around him.

"Stay alive, Zuko," she says, with thinly-veiled panic and her fingers sweeping over his cheek. "I'll protect you, this time."

He blacks out – when he comes to, she is touching his bare chest and bleeding. Her arm is burnt badly, flakes of blackened skin peeling off and revealing the angry pink underneath. Her lips are cracked and raw. She's crying. He sighs.

"What'd I do now?"

She hiccups. "You have another scar. I'm sorry."

He thinks of his answer for a long time, then goes, "You should only be sorry if you can't find them sexy."

She gives a watery bark of laughter and smoothes her hands up over his collarbones. Her fingers twist in the hair at the nape of his neck, and she's panting over him. Her eyes are too blue and glossy. He can't move, but he hopes she knows what he'd do if he could. "I can."

"Then don't cry." His eyes are on her lips. She leans closer, then stops, like she isn't sure what she should do. He exhales once, twice, stares at her necklace. "Azula?"

"Isn't recognizable anymore," she mutters, chewing on a strand of hair. She keeps looking to his left, so he lets his head roll that way and stops. Azula is leaning against one of the support pillars, sopping wet. There is a giant, bloody hole in her chest where her heart had once been. Kairi's keyblade is next to her, red all the way to the hilt and slightly bent. He looks back at her. "I'm sorry."

"Stop apologizing for doing the things none of us ever could," he grumbles, and wants to touch her face, run his hands through her hair, touch her cheekbones and neck, pull her down to him and just make her stop. "Thank you."

"I thought you'd died." Her eyes are tearing up again. "I thought she'd killed you and it was so awful, the things she said about you…"

"Azula always lies," he says, for what is hopefully the final time, and forces a half-smile. "It's okay, you know. I'm okay."

"I'm sorry," she sniffles. She moves in closer, and he can almost taste the salt on her skin. Her eyelashes are damp and long and sticking together near the outer corners of her eyes. He breathes her in.

"I love you," he says. She doesn't look surprised, and she doesn't move any closer.

"Who's Mai."

He blinks once, twice, then closes his eyes and tells her.

—

His coronation ceremony is short and sweet. Kairi misses the first five minutes of it because she's in the backroom, locking up their world using his father's crown or whatever it is she had to do. She can only stay a few weeks longer, they both know. She has to do a final sweep and make sure all the Heartless are gone, and then she has to leave, go back to her own world and find another to save. He wonders if she falls in love with someone one every planet, or if he's just unlucky.

She sneaks her way onto the balcony just as he and Aang shake hands. Iroh is grinning so wide Zuko thinks his face might split, and then he does a double take and realizes that the maids have given Kairi a complete make-over. Her hair is pulled back in a topknot, and she's wearing an outfit similar to what Katara had worn while they were undercover, only with shorts and wrist guards. It isn't even fair.

"You," he grumbles later, hands on her bare hips, "are a filthy cheater."

She giggles. "Shall I show you just how dirty I can get, Your Majesty?"

He chokes. She snickers into his neck, so he bites her ear and runs his fingers over her ribs. "Go right ahead."

She dances away from him, eyes bright. "You have Fire Lord duties to attend to, Zuko. I can't keep distracting you, or else your people will have my head."

"Among other things." He scowls when she heads for the door. "Where are you going?"

"To see if they've found my ship yet," she replies blithely. "Sora and Riku are probably worried sick about me."

He pretends that doesn't hurt, even after she's left the room. He wonders if there's any room left in her heart for him when it already seems so full. He touches the letter on his desk, from Bumi, and accidentally sets it on fire.

"Even when she isn't here, she's messing you up, isn't she?" Sokka leans in the doorway, looking both smug and pitying. "You've only got a few more weeks, bud. Are you sure you should be letting her get under your skin like this?"

Zuko frowns. "Do you not like her, or something?"

Sokka shakes his head, backtracks. "No, no, man, she's cool and hot and all that, but I know she's just temporary. We can't ask her to choose between the life she was given, and the one she chose to save."

"I don't think," he stops, starts again. "I think I love her… and I don't think she gets it."

"Most girls don't," Sokka deadpans. "Girls from other planets, especially."

"Thank you for those kind words of wisdom, Sokka. Any other advice you wish to impart upon me?"

"Yeah," Sokka goes, "stop reading the dictionary. You sound like an old guy."

Zuko throws a book at his head.

—

This is eventually what happens; they find her ship and she makes plans to leave in three days. Zuko drops the Fire Lord façade, changes into his old clothes, corners her in the hall, just behind the statue of his great-grand father, and pins her to the wall with his hips. "Do you love me?"

She blushes hot. "I don't know."

He grits his teeth. "Have you ever _been _in love?"

"Yes," she goes, without hesitating. He growls.

"Then why are you doing this to me?" His fingers press into her hips, hard. She doesn't flinch. "Why are you leaving me behind?"

Something in her face shifts, like she's remembering something she never thought she'd need to, and her lips part. "I'm sorry," she breathes, and buries her face in is neck. "I'm sorry, I forgot what it felt like to.. I never would've.. if I'd just –"

"Stop babbling," he mutters, "and just talk to me."

Her tongue swipes at his jugular. He kisses her collarbone, open mouthed and slow. She inhales hard. "The person I loved left me behind without saying goodbye, and it hurt a lot, but it made me a better person. He died, though. I never…"

"You never associated dying with this?" He snorts into her hair, pushes his thigh between hers. "You are a complete and utter dunce, sometimes." Her fingers run over his bare shoulders, nails grazing lightly. She kisses the dip in his clavicle. "Don't go."

"I have to." His hands slide upwards and squeeze. She arches into him and wraps one leg around his waist. "_Zuko._"

Her skin is hot and slick against him. The hallway is empty but there are servants chattering just out of sight, and it makes him press harder, touch her where it makes her scream silently into his chest. They're too fast and rushed for it to be anything but desperate, but every roll of his hips makes her hold onto him tighter, and she's saying his name over and over like it'll change something.

When she jerks up against him, he bites her breast and she says, "You're everything," like he's never heard it before. Her fingers slide over him, clumsy and rhythmic, and he knows he will love her for a long time after she leaves, because he just can't shake her anymore.

—

The day she leaves, he finds a note on his desk and the charm she always had attached to her belt. Her ship is just a puff of smoke in the sky, and he can't look at the stars without thinking of her smile and her laugh and the way she said his name like she loved him. Her writing is smooth and fluid and slants to the right.

_I know I'm worlds away to you, now, but just remember that we all share the same sky._

_So whenever you look up at it thinking of me, know that I'm doing the same and thinking of you._

_Love, Kairi._

_P.S. This is my favourite charm; don't you dare lose it. I'll be coming back for it!_

He laughs, and knows he will wait forever.

(because she was everything, too.)

* * *

**NOTES.** finito. (:  
**DISCLAIMER. **i own nothing.


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